Deluxe Dining Plan

[princess-rn]

We have booked the deluxe dining plan for the first time. Please give me your experience with it. We are looking forward to enjoying more signature dining experiences. Also, am I seeing correctly, that you get the appetizer and dessert with the deluxe plan??

 

[JWigs]

We are doing the regular DDP I'm a few weeks and I do believe that you get appetizer plus dessert which can be a lot of food!

 

[sharonabe]

We have booked the deluxe dining plan for the first time. Please give me your experience with it. We are looking forward to enjoying more signature dining experiences. Also, am I seeing correctly, that you get the appetizer and dessert with the deluxe plan??

Yes you do get apps AND desserts with the DxDDP. We've not done it as it would be way too much food for four Disney adults, but those who love it say they love it because they can do a regular TS for breakfast or lunch then a signature for dinner. That helps them not eat as much and it cuts down on the time needed to get to/from and at restaurants as opposed to doing 3 meals/day.

 

[loves to dive]

Way back when the dining plan started you got 3 TS per day and an appy with dinner. We did it then, I'm not even sure there was such a thing as signature back then. After a few days it got to be too much food for us. We don't even do the regular one now because it's too much food and we come out better paying OOP.

 

[Lisa F]

I am doing a split stay so I can do the deluxe DDP the first 3 nights and then pay OOP the remaining 4 nights, and I am front loading my expensive dining. Of course you do not need to use all of your 3 meal entitlements as TS but it is a better value if you do. My dining plan for first 3 nights is below, and it is listed number of TS per person (I actually have 1 adult and 1 child)

Arrival Sat afternoon, Ohana Dinner (1TS)
Sunday morning: Tusker House Breakfast
Sunday evening: California Grill Dinner (2TS)
Monday Morning: Crystal Palace Breakfast (1TS)
Monday Evening: Tiffin w/Rivers of Light package (2TS) - this is pure speculation at this point but hoping!
Tuesday Morning: Ohana breakfast, check out of Poly DVC
Tuesday Evening: Hollywood & Vine Holiday Dine w/Fantasmic package, check into BWV DVC

at that point I will use any unused snack credits at the boardwalk bakery for breakfast on subsequent days.

I think if you do a buffet breakfast and signature dinner a day that it works out alright. Anything less than that or 3 full TS meals a day and you are better off just paying OOP for the whole thing as you go.

 

[GillianP1301]

We have used the DxDDP for the past two trips (used regular DDP the trip before that) and we love it. It is 3 TS credits per day with appetizer & dessert. We do 3 meals a day when we are at WDW, so this plan works well for us. The most common "complaint" you will hear is that it's too much food. It is a lot of food, no doubt, but I am not a clean your plate type person, nor do I fell I need to finish off 3 or 4 plates of food at a buffet to "get my moneys worth". I find the restaurants attractions in themselves and the character meals are something that we do 7 or 8 of each vacation, so for those two reasons alone it is well worth it for us. Add in that we travel in late summer and having a pre-planned break in our to rest and cool off is a real bonus to me, we're eating anyway so it's a 2 birds/1 stone thing.

Your plan to take advantage of 2 credit meals is a good one. You can either pay OOP for a lighter lunch and/or use your snack credits to fill in on any particular day. My only real issue, and it's minor, is that I do tend to end up with a lot of snack credits left over and I do feel like I am usually not hungry enough to really take advantage of some of the great snack options.

So overall, I do like the DxDDP. I do think it's a bit of a luxury and if you are looking to have a more budget conscious trip, then I would say this is the first thing I would suggest go. But, having now done the deluxe plan, I think I would have a hard time not getting it... you get a bit spoiled! It's kinda like hoppers to me, something that I didn't know how much I would enjoy until after I actually tried it.

 

[eeyoresmom]

We are doing the regular DDP I'm a few weeks and I do believe that you get appetizer plus dessert which can be a lot of food!

I'm not sure I'm reading this right, but there's no appetizers with the regular DDP.

 

[JWigs]

Sorry I meant with deluxe you do get appetizers but we're doing just regular as it'd be too much food for us.

 

[princessemsmom]

We do DxDP. I was hoping not to this trip - as it is a ton of food - but my husband likes to sit and have a meal 2x a day. We are not big CS eaters in general so it works for us. We also use it as a way to see characters while having some down time for my DD. I think it is great for families like us who like to sit and relax.

I agree with PP - we end up not using the snack credits on some of the amazing snack options - because we just are not hungry for snacks, but I use them to buy a ton of things we can take home - my DD can share with friends or use in her lunch - and it extends the magic a bit (or so I tell myself )